I received an advert for this to my email and my interest was piqued. That doesn't normally happen. I'm often quite dismissive of novels of this nature (girl has something that gives her a manic pixie quality, falls in love in an instant) after reading a number of terrible ones recently. That didn't stop me though because I had a feeling from the synopsis (and the author) that this wasn't quite that.

Boy, was I wrong. The One Memory of Flora Banks is truly twisty. It follows a direction I did suspect but was handled very well and Flora's condition was handled incredibly sensitively.
I struggled with the reality of this story though; there were a number of loopholes I couldn't quite believe myself. Maybe that says something more about me and my jaded, cynical view on the world.
It also says something, though, when your favourite character is in the background. Jacob was, by the end, the one I felt was done the most justice and he was never there. A true shame, but maybe necessary to give the story the edge it had.

I would give The One Memory a read; it is a moving book by the end and a truly interesting take on amnesia fiction. And Flora, my dear, you definitely weren't a manic pixie so thank you.

(Although, my heart bleeds for Jacob.)

From the opening sentence of this book: “I am at the top of a hill, and although I know I have done something terrible I have no idea what it is” you know that you are in for a treat. Flora Banks is 17. She knows this, because it is written on her hand. She also knows that when she was 10 “a tumour grew in your brain, and when you were eleven surgeons took it out. Part of your memory went with it” because her mother wrote this in her book of memories. Apart from things that happened before the operation, Flora is unable to retain any memory for longer than about an hour. Anything she needs to remember she writes in her book, on her hand or arm, or on post-it notes scattered around. Though she cannot always remember why she needed to write something down. Then suddenly she manages to hold on to a memory for several hours, several days, weeks!!! The memory of when she was kissed by Drake. Her world changes. Unfortunately, Drake was the boyfriend of her best friend, Paige. Now she doesn’t have a best friend, and her parents are away.
Flora is 17 years old, with a 17 year old body – but the experience of a 10 year old. If you have no memory, how can you grow up, mature? What is your identity? What do you want from life, and what can you expect? How can you cope when your only anchors to the world have disappeared?
Actually, Flora copes amazingly well – so much better than anyone (except her brother) expects. For the last seven years she has built up coping mechanisms – she notices everything around her, and writes notes to herself. Somehow, without a memory, she retains more knowledge than most of us manage with our memory fully intact. What she wants, needs, is Drake, so that she can be with the one she loves and continue to remember.
Flora is an innocent abroad, even in her home town. But she brings out the best in virtually everyone, and they all do their utmost to protect and help her. Few would ever consider taking advantage of her disability, so her trust of complete strangers (that is, everyone except her parents and Paige) is generally justified, and with their help she gets to Svalbard. Just ask yourself for a minute, how many normal teenagers could manage that, could they even find it on a map? Perhaps, few normal teenagers have the drive and elemental need that Flora has. Without Drake, Flora may never remember again. Finding him is her one chance at being seen as a regular human being.
Flora is exceptional, and you cannot fail to fall in love with her. She will never be a regular human – she is something much more, someone quite amazing. Her story is utterly compelling, and you are with her all the way; whooping at her highs, and distraught at her lows. Few books can grab hold of your emotions as completely as this one.
Flora’s outlook on life is a lesson for everyone: “Live in the moment whenever you can. You don’t need a memory for that”.

I was sucked into this book from the first page. Flora suffers from memory loss, she can only remember things for a few hours at a time, but there's one thing that she can remember. She kissed Drake, and Drake loves her.
Drake has moved now, so is no longer in the same country as flora. But Flora has a plan, to find her Drake and live happily ever after.
This story is brilliantly written, at times I found myself laughing and sometimes I found myself shouting at the book.
But it's absolutely brilliant and is worth a read.

I have a soft spot for books featuring amnesia. This book did not disappoint. Flora made my heart soar in unbelievable ways. The relationship between her and her brother had my heart in pieces, I wept so many tears. I also cried over the way her parents treat her, and when her best friend isolated her. I just loved it. I cried, I laughed and I had the worst book hangover for days. Thank you Emily Barr, can't wait to see what you do next!

When did so called YA fiction become better than so called adult fiction? When I was a teenager many many Moons ago we got Sweet Valley High and Sweet Dreams. Don't get me wrong I loved them and hold many a fond memory of them. But they weren't exactly challenging. But now they get these types of books and frankly I'm jealous.

Flora Banks has a type of amnesia that stops her from building new memories. She can remember lots from before she was 10 and the event that caused her condition but very little after. Now shes 17 and she kisses a boy she shouldn’t kiss and somehow she remembers. But the next day he's gone. But this is her first new memory in 7 years and so she feels compelled to follow him.....to the Arctic.

Flora is a character you can really love. She's essentially been kept under lock and key and the moment she is left alone she comes alive and goes on an adventure with only the aid of a credit card and lots of notes reminding her who she is and why she's doing what she doing. I can't even describe how much I loved this book. It's touching and sad, uplifting and funny. Just wonderful. 5++++ stars!

Many many thanks to Netgalley and publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so eager to read this, Emily Barr’s first YA novel, and it is fantastic!
The story starts with a dramatic prologue. Someone is hiding in an unfamiliar, snowy place, with no idea why or even how they got there. Whatever has happened is terrible. At this stage I was as confused as the narrator, following her haphazard thought process. Then we get taken back in time to the events leading up to this moment, and it becomes apparent that Flora is not an average seventeen year old. When Flora was a little girl something happened which caused Amnesia, and her little notes and reminders help her to cope with life. Then something momentous happens that changes everything.
Emily Barr captures the intensity of first love, and the pure innocence of a girl without any adult memories. She does a brilliant job of getting into Flora’s head, thinking like a young girl inside an older body. This is a page-turner that I wanted to keep reading, fascinating and off-beat. I was quickly hooked. I loved Flora, who is a strong character. She is vulnerable but plucky, with a confusing, complicated life.
Flora embarks on quite an adventure and although it appears to be predictable there are some great twists and turns. Emily Barr is an assured writer who can toy with your emotions and makes you have strong feelings for her characters. It is hugely gripping as things unfold near the end. One thing’s for sure, you will be rooting for Flora the whole time.
This is a unique story that reminded me of Groundhog Day (lots of repetition but never dull) and Before I go to sleep, with the quirkiness of The curious incident of the dog in the night. I can see this author reaching a whole new fan-base with this YA debut. A must read for fans of YA and Emily Barr. A fabulous book, I loved it!

Flora Banks has anterograde amnesia, which means that she can’t form any new memories. She has some long-term memories from before she was ten – she knows her parents, and her best friend Paige, for example – but anything since the age of ten when she had a brain tumour and surgery to remove the tumour doesn’t stick.
One night, Flora is at a party and kisses a boy. And the next day, she remembers it. A new memory has formed for the first time in almost 8 years. But the boy has gone, travelled up to Svalbard, Norway to study.
Does this newly-formed memory mean that she is beginning to get better? With her parents absent, she hatches a plan to follow Drake, the boy in question, to find out.
When I saw this novel on Netgalley I was instantly intrigued. It’s not a new premise, and anyone who has seen the film Memento will see some similarities in the protagonists’ plights, although Flora being a seventeen-year-old girl does mean that this has quite a different vibe to it. But, she does write notes, both in a notebook as well as on post-its and on her arms and hands. She also has “Flora’s Story” – a book put together by her mother that explains her amnesia, and what it means for her:
"You’ll never live anywhere but Penzance, because this is the only place in which you’re safe. This town is mapped in your mind and it is your home. You will always live with us, and we will always look after you and you will be fine."
For a seventeen-year-old, I think that this is a horrifying prospect to have to deal with – the idea that you’ll always be looked after by your parents, because you’re considered incapable of looking after yourself.
But, Flora is an incredibly plucky character, and once alone she proves herself to be determined and clever – more so than you might have believed up to this point. And the reader does start to wonder whether the people around her are being over-protective. That said, she does get up to some mischief, and paints half her bedroom whilst her parents are away. There are a few humorous moments like this, even as I felt occasionally anxious about what she was going to get up to next. And heading out to Norway is no mean feat for a young woman who has to constantly remind herself where she’s going. But she manages it, and I was cheering her along the whole way.
This is a quick read, and I got through it in two sittings. It struck me as something of a modern-day adventure story, with our young protagonist going on their quest, despite the barriers thrown in their way. And whilst Flora’s struggles are different to those of many others, there’s a strong message of believing in yourself. Of course, there is a twist at the end, and whilst it wasn’t entirely unexpected, I did find it to be quite shocking. The novel ends on a note of optimism for Flora, however, and I would say that she is one of those characters that will stay with me for some time.
The One Memory of Flora Banks is available now as an eBook, and will be published in paperback on 12 January. Many thanks to the publisher, Penguin Random House, for providing a copy for review via Netgalley.

I loved this, my review will go live on my blog next week. Flora is a great narrator, and I loved the descriptions of Svalbard.

Flora's narration of her story is in parts charming, confusing, irritating, and downright scary. She seems to be a charming young lady, an innocent, who is constantly surprised and confused by what you and I would find normal - including her appearance. Well, no, her appearance is a little bizarre. She dresses unlike a seventeen year-old and doesn't do what most seventeen year-olds do in their spare time. Although she is at her friend's party, and like many seventeen year olds, she's thinking about boys. The blurb gives you a good idea of what happens next, including eventually setting off for an island in the Arctic.

The trouble with the narrative is that it is highly repetitive. Flora has to go through her notes every morning (and after a nap) to remind herself who she is, where she lives, who her parents are, and just about everything that belongs to her current life. There is a certain poetry about this; it reads like a mantra. It invokes your empathy, and once she gets up to doing odd things, it is a bitter-sweet amusement, too. But around 26% in, it starts to pall. I'm not the only person who hit the wall around then, judging from other people's reviews. If, like me, you have by then forgotten the blurb, you may forget that you were also drawn in by the stupidity of going to the Arctic.

For me, that was part of the draw. Someone was writing about Svalbard! And it is not easy to get to Svalbard when you are a relatively fully functional adult with control of your money and passport, and a travel company to arrange the trickier bits. And Flora arrives at the main town of Longyearbyen in her jeans and trainers, and a faux fur coat that she got from the charity shop, and I'm thinking 'My goodness, she'll freeze! I hope to heck it's June or July.' Well, happily it was. And going to Svalbard is a stroke of genius by the author, because it is the one place in the world I am relaxed about Flora not being a victim of something really horrible that you'd get in cities all over the world. It's the best place for an innocent to go, and the author describes it exactly as I remember it.

And that's where the truth starts to come out. Flora's behaviour and memory get increasingly disjointed. You start doubting your own memory of what was narrated earlier. But still things don't quite add up...

The twists in this tale are truly superb, some things you feel you should have spotted, but you were so drawn into Flora's world that you suspended disbelief at the wrong times for the wrong reasons.

This book is genius.

The only other book I read last year that was as good was Dear Amy. Both deal with fractured memories. And apart from having equal genius authors, that's all they have in common.

This may be one of those books that you love or hate, but if you can press on through the need for Flora to repeat herself until things start changing, you'll be well rewarded. Even if you haven't been to Svalbard.

Nice read and easy to follow story line. Look forward to reading more from this author

There are so many emotions at stake in The One Memory Of Flora Banks. This story unfolds with snippets of the truth tantalisingly in the fog for Flora. I feel for her mother wishing to protect her daughter and the guilt she must endure but her father sees beyond that and the fact that Flora must be allowed to lead her life freely. Tragic that Floras brother is no longer there to support her but thank goodness that Paige steps up to the challenge in the end. A thoughtful and engrossing novel.

Reviewed on Goodreads and my blog.

A must-read, and a great way to start my New Year reading.
Flora is a warm and wonderful character, who fills me with admiration.

There are some books you stay up until 2 AM (on a work night) to read. This was one of those books. It was one of the weirdest books I've read in quite some time, with a unique protagonists and a fantastic plot.

Not your usual YA read for me, as I tend to focus on fantasy, but I do like high school and life-themed Young Adult books too, and this was truly one-of-a-kind. I think this is one of those books, that you wouldn't have to be a genre reader to enjoy. This is one of those books that anyone from any genre would love because it is just that well-written.

Plot

The plot was fantastic, a new concept, to me anyway. Flora has retrograde amnesia, her parents have lied to her her whole life and when they're called away suddenly everything starts to untangle.

The central concept is of a girl living her life with retrograde amnesia when she can only remember things for a couple of hours. It was amazing and made me grapple with the question of how someone would live like that. The story depicts her life in an extremely plausible way. The author comes up with believable and authentic coping methods and tactics Flora uses to prod her memory. All in all, it was a beautiful portrayal of how someone with that type of amnesia might live.

Characters

The characters are fantastically unique. Each one gave me something to either love or hate about them. I particularly liked the mother of Flora and all her complexities. It was almost a shame I didn't get to see more of her. The main love interest (without giving too much away) was a dick! Flora was brilliant, despite her disability, she was fantastically strong, capable, and independent. I did feel that in her mind she thought she was incapable at the end, which was a strange kind of character arc. But thankfully on the very last page she came back to herself. But I would have liked to have seen a bit more of that, or at least seen a bit more of the story. But that's a good thing; the author left me wanting more... SO, SO MUCH MORE.

Language

The language was at first, quite difficult to get to grips with. This is not because it was poorly written, quite the contrary, Barr has a beautiful stylistic prose and one that I devoured rapidly. But the language was difficult because of Flora's amnesia. This meant that Barr used a lot of repetition to create Flora's unique character. After a while, you sink into the flow of Flora's mind and the repetition is both a comfort and part of her unique character and in fact helps add depth to Flora's character.

The Ending

I liked the ending. I like where it went; I like what happened to the characters, and I liked the style in which she ended it. But because I liked it, I would have liked a little more from the final couple of chapters. Conveyed through letters, much of the ending and the big reveal is given away in those letters which are told from another character's perspective. I understand why Barr did this, but for me, I would have liked to have seen a little more of the reveal and what happened to Flora from Flora's point of view. That's not a criticism, more of a 'the author smashed it; I wish it hadn't ended' type comment!

The very last page had the perfect amount of showing you what happened and leaving a little to the reader's imagination. A fantastic read, four stars from me and a book that I will recommend to anyone from any genre.

Review left on Goodreads, and on Amazon. It will go live on my blog in February 2017.

A very different take on the coming of age story. Flora Banks is 17, but can remember nothing for any length of time. Her emotional and physical journey makes a highly memorable story that I read in one go. Very well written, with a cast of engaging characters.

"I look at my hands. One of them says 'Flora, be brave'. I am Flora."

Flora has anterograde amnesia. She can't remember anything day-to-day: the joke her friend made, the instructions her parents gave her, how old she is.

Then she kisses someone she shouldn't have kissed - and the next day she remembers it. The first time she's remembered anything since she was ten.

But the boy is gone.

Desperate to hold onto the memory, she sets off to the Arctic to find him.

Why can she remember Drake? Could he be the key to everything else she's forgotten?

I have been given an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review...

The book introduces us to 17 year old Flora at a party. She has things written on her arms. That's how she remembers them. The writer illustrates Flora and her world so cleverly. You are there in the moment with her as she takes her first sip of wine at a party and then as she has her first kiss with the boy who just happens to be her best friend's ex boyfriend...

This book cleverly details what grief can do to people and what untreated grief can make people do to others. It's beautifully poignant.

It's inspiring, it's beautiful, it gives you hope.

A five out of five star read.

I am profoundly grateful to NetGalley and Penguin for my copy of this book.

A 17 year old girl with amnesia thinking she is still 10 years old each time she forgets (no new memories) kisses a boy and remembers it! Unfortunately he has moved to Norway. In love with him and also believing him to be her cure she overcomes her problems to follow him alone while her parents are in Paris with her brother (due to being ill) Flora is a brave girl and this is a gripping story with a few surprises throughout. Would highly recommend.

That was....unexpected. I didn't know what to expect and that was a good thing. In the beginning it was confusing. Never knowing, what was real and what was only in Flora's mind. But it felt real, it felt like being Flora. Spiraling down into something. Not knowing if it was a good thing or bad. It was frightening being Flora. Everything was new, all the time. How can one live like that? Is it possible to be independent? It was a good thing Flora had her best friend Paige. Even if their relationship was off for a while, but in the end Paige comes through and helps Flora to stand up for herself. And then there is DRAKE. The one pushing Flora out of her save zone into the world. He's the one, Flora thinks, helping her getting back her all her memories. But, what does she find? I couldn't find one single nice thing to say about this boy. Sure, I'm happy Flora got to experience the kiss and had an amazing time on her journey. But he was a let down and sadly there is not happy end. Not really. In the end it's clear Flora has a long, difficult road ahead of her and she's going to need all the help she can get. But is she going to make it?
A great book, to get some inside in the mind of someone with mental health challenges. I really recommend it to everybody.

I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK Children’s!

The One Memory of Flora Banks is a quirky, contemporary fiction with a unique protagonist. Our protagonist, Flora Banks, is truly an unreliable narrator due to her anterograde amnesia. We experience the world from Flora's perspective, and as such, there's a lot of mystery. You can never be sure if what Flora is reporting in her diary is the whole truth, or what she's missed. This concept is brilliant and makes following along with Flora on her grand adventure really fascinating. The pacing of the story was good and I was engaged throughout.

However, despite this unusual premise and interesting narration, I didn't absolute adore this book like I had hoped. Memory loss and chronic illness is such a big and important topic, but the story has very little depth. Everything is focused on romance and 'love is healing'. It doesn't feel realistic or at all representative. Flora's illness is who she is; the girl with the memory loss who wishes she was 'normal'. We don't get much of a sense of her, and it feels weirdly like we're exploiting her.

Immersive YA fiction that transports you not only to Penzance, but to the scared, unstable every day life of Flora - a seventeen year old girl with anterograde amnesia. Written in such a way to induce the panic of memory loss, the reader feels Flora trying to be brave, and the reader too hangs on to her one memory as if to try and break through the barrier and the limitations of her condition. Flora is surprised in various moments to find she is not ten years old, to find her own reflection, to find she has a brother, and to find her notes to herself. As a reader you become increasingly concerned for her - the time loss, the incoherent thoughts, the words on her arms, the youth and innocence of her bravery. You also want to be her friend.

All is not straightforward. Flora's parents have a secret. They tell lies. Who can she trust? She has a best friend but she has abandoned her and Flora knows why. Other people know her name when sometimes even she does not. Notes are all over the house telling Flora what she must do, but she has other ideas which she keeps writing down.


This is an amazing story, a book feast of emotions which are compelling and pressing. I made the mistake of putting this book down to sleep and it pervaded my dreams.

I can’t believe it’s the first day of 2017 and I’m already giving a book 5 stars but The One Memory of Flora Banks definitely deserves it.

I love books that are unique, different and a little bit weird and this story is all of those things and more. The writing is incredible and draws you in to the life and mind of Flora Banks from the very first page and I could quite happily have stayed there.

The whole story is told from Flora’s point of view and this makes for a very unique reading experience. She constantly forgets things and has to keep reminding herself of what’s going on or where she is, there are moments of panic, complete confusion as her thoughts starts jumping around in time, obsession and quite a few moments of complete joy. It’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster and Flora is not the most reliable of narrators making you constantly question what’s real and what’s not and whether she truly understands what’s happening.

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of amnesia and what it’s like to not remember anything. Would it be liberating to not remember (and beat yourself up over) the things you’ve done or would it be terrifying to not know who you or anyone else is? In this book it’s both. Flora is such an engaging character you can’t help but like her and cheer her on. She’s innocent and naive in a lot of ways which had me permanently worried someone would take advantage but there is something very infectious about the way she just does things because she wants to. Would you follow a boy you kissed once to the Arctic? She takes things at face value and just trusts which is so endearing and in a lot of ways I found it inspirational just how brave she was.

As the story is from Flora’s perspective you don’t get a lot of depth or insight into the other characters, they appear, say or do something and are then forgotten but they do still make an impact. One character in particular, who never actually appears in the book in person plays a huge part in the story and for me left the biggest impression. I’d absolutely love to hear his story.

The writing throughout is incredible and emotive. I found myself laughing and smiling and crying at points and I just couldn’t stop reading. Even picking it up now and flipping to a random page I have a huge big smile on my face.

I know there has been some criticism that this is a book about someone on a quest to be “normal” rather than accepting and living with her condition but I don’t think this is what the story is about. For me it was about someone who, despite a frightening condition, wants to go out and live her life. To have adventures, make friends and be out there doing what she wants without fear. Also, is it really a bad thing that she wants to find a way to hang on to her memories?

I will admit it’s not perfect, I feel that there are some issues which are slightly brushed over, but as it’s such an emotional, addictive and unique read I just had to give it the full five stars. I’m so happy to have had this book to bring in the new year. I think it’s a book that will stay with me for a while.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The One Memory of Flora Banks is released on 12th January 2017.